The current Governor of Bauchi State, Mohammed Abubakar, who has been defeated at the Saturday supplementary election by the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Bala Mohammed has conceded defeat.
In a statement today, Monday, by press secretary to the governor, Abubakar Al-Sadique and made available to newsmen, the governor, who won the election in 2015 on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), said: “I wish to sincerely congratulate my brother, Sen Bala on this victory at the polls.
“I’m glad that in spite of the tensed campaigns we had in Bauchi state, we have been able to sail through without bloodshed. Let me therefore invite the Governor-elect to join me in working out the process of a peaceful transition.
“I sincerely thank the entire people of Bauchi state for their support to my administration and urge them to extend the same to the incoming administration.
“I also urge governor-elect to caution his supporters to be law abiding in the celebrations since the period of campaigns is now over.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo took time off to greet the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu while the Minister of Communication, Dr. Adebayo Shittu and Minister of Information & Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed look on.
Traditional ruler of Obosi town in Anambra State, Igwe Chidubem Iweka II, has suspended Chief Osita Chidoka, who is a former Minister of Aviation, from the Council of Chiefs for what was said to be sacrilegious act, forbidden by the Kingdom.
Osita Chidoka, who is a spokesman of Atiku Abubakar Presidential Campaign Council, was alleged to have, along with two others; Chief Linus Mgbakaogu and Chief Hyacinth Udemba, been involved in bringing the corpses of two Obosi youths that were killed during the March 9 re-run election to the palace.
A statement by Dr. Benneth Mozie on behalf of the monarch and his chiefs in council, said that the act was a sacrilege in the tradition of Obosi kingdom which forbids the king and his council from seeing human corpse.
The statement reads: “On arriving at the palace, these chiefs in council instructed that the corpse be off loaded and dumped in the palace, an insulting and dishonouring act, an abomination of the gravest magnitude.
“After due consultations and deliberations with all relevant ancient traditional bodies of Obosi, the Igwe Iweka II in council, hereby announces the indefinite suspension from his cabinet of the above mentioned three chiefs.
“This suspension is for their acts of sacrilege against the revered age-old customs of the people and Obosi ancient kingdom.”
However, Chief Anthony Nwabude, the Traditional Prime Minister of Obosi (Onowu Obosi), who was at the palace when the suspension was announced, told journalists that there was no time the content of the statement was discussed or resolved by the council.
Nwabude, an octogenarian and one of the oldest members of the council, said he could not sit back and watch a decision he was not part of foisted on him without talking.
“There was never a meeting where the cabinet met to discuss and come up with the resolution that was read.
“Since the killings, the cabinet has never met to discuss it; so, I am not in support of it,” he said.
In his reaction, Mgbakaogu, one of the affected persons, dismissed the news of his suspension as a kangaroo exercise, saying he remained the Atta Obosi.
Mgbakaogu told reporters that the monarch could not suspend any member of the cabinet without convening a general meeting of the council.
He accused him of delving into partisan politics which had made him to mishandle the affairs of Obosi.
“Two Obosi sons were killed because of election and the youths of the town insisted on taking their corpse to their king in protest of numerous deaths we have witnessed, and the three of us were there to witness what happened.
“The Igwe has had running battles with Obosi community and presently there is a panel of inquiry looking into these issues, we are still expecting the white paper from Anambra Government.
“I am not surprised at the purported suspension which cannot stand, I have been in the traditional cabinet for nine years and eight months, long before he became an Igwe, so I remain Atta Obosi.
Losers in the Saturday, March 23 supplementary governorship elections are protesting the results, threatening to challenge the results at the election tribunals.
The Sokoto State Chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC) was first to reject the declaration of Governor Aminu Tambuwal of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as winner of the election in the state.
Speaking to news men in Sokoto today, Sunday, the APC’s spokesman, Bello Danchadi, alleged that the election process was flawed with irregularities, which he said were duly reported to electoral body.
Danchadi said that the margin of 342 votes was far less than the registered voters in polling units where elections were not held, a development which he said contravened the electoral law.
He said that the party had also registered its complaints to INEC, which included alleged outright rigging perpetrated by the PDP.
He alleged that some eligible voters at some polling centres were denied voting, and in some places repeated votings were recorded.
“We draw the attention of INEC to a number of polling units that were canceled as result of violent attacks by thugs, while others were arbitrarily canceled to please certain political party interests.
“In view of these we deem it necessary to express our disagreement with the action taken by INEC to declare a winner without giving us a fair hearing in our position in the electoral processes.”
In Benue, the APC also rejected the outcome of the governorship election, saying that the results did not reflect the wishes of the people.
Ina statement by the Secretary of the Jime/Ode Campaign Organization, Eugene Aliegba, the party said that it would challenge the results in court.
The statement insisted that the outcome of the poll was “totally unacceptable to the APC”.
And senator Jeremiah Useni, gubernatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Plateau has vowed to challenge the re-election of Governor Simon Lalong for another term. Useni said that he and his team had gone through both the official results released by INEC and the documents submitted by the party’s field staff and had reservations.
“We have every reason to believe that justice has not been done to our people in this election because there was massive rigging and electoral shortcomings. Sokoto re-run: INEC halts results collation over 1 LGA “After due consultation, I hereby state that the results announced by INEC is not acceptable to us.
“Consequently, we have requested our legal team to activate all the due processes to reclaim our cherished mandate.
“I give you my word that we will pursue this matter diligently, and by the grace of God, we will overturn and recover the people’s mandate.”
After days of anxiety and uncertainty, the governor of Kano State, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje has finally made it to a second term on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) today, Sunday, declared him the winner of the governorship supplementary election held yesterday, Saturday. The governor had earlier lost the first election held on March 9 by a slim margin, but his total votes in the two polls put him ahead of his main challenger, the candidate of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Abba Yusuf.
Before the supplementary election, Abba Yusuf was leading Ganduje with about 26,000 votes after he polled 1,014,474 votes to Mr Ganduje’s 987,819 votes, leaving a difference of 26,655 votes.
In the supplementary election held in 28 out of the 44 local government areas in the state, Ganduje won by scoring 45,876 votes to Mr Yusuf’s 10,239 thereby up turning the result in his favour, INEC said.
The State Returning Officer, Professor Bello Shehu, announced that Ganduje scored a total vote of 1,033,695 while Abba Yusuf polled 1,024,713. He made the announcement at the headquarters of INEC in Kano.
The winning margin is 8,982 between the two major candidates.
Information reaching us at the Greenbarge Reporters indicated that the outgoing Senate President, Bukola Saraki, is rallying round his colleagues who are loyal to him to work against the emergence of Senator Abdullahi Adamu of the APC, Nasarawa State and Ali Ndume of the APC Borno State, as President of the ninth Senate.
Information has it that Saraki’s group, which maneuvered him into the Senate Presidency in 2015 regard both Senators Adamu and Ndume as chronic loyalists of President Muhammadu Buhari, who himself has been re-elected for second term.
The Senate President, who was defeated at the poll by APC’s candidate, Dr. Oloriegbe Yahaya Ibrahim at the February 23 election is leading an influential group in the Senate, comprising principally PDP senators and some members of the APC caucus who crave his influence to win the support of the PDP caucus. The group is believed to be working on the 2015 template with which he emerged as Senate President with the candidate of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) caucus, Ike Ekweremadu, as Deputy Senate President.
The group, as gathered, met last week at the Maitama residence of Senator Saraki where 35 PDP senators-elect resolved to influence the emergence of a new Senate leadership.
The crux of the group’s plot is to ensure that it works with and supports any APC senator that is amenable to its proposal to accommodate the PDP caucus in the Senate leadership.
The group, according to sources, was interested in retaining the position of Deputy Senate President.
The group was said to have come up with Plans “A”, “B” and “C”, preparatory to the horse-trading that is expected to characterise the race for the position of Senate President.
The group’s plan A, as learnt, is to sponsor one of them for the position of Senate President in the event two or more members of the APC caucus present themselves for the position on the floor of the Senate.
If it becomes difficult for the group to activate plan “A”, it was agreed that it should support Senator Danjuma Goje (APC, Gombe in North East) who, according to members of the group, was more amenable; and, they believe that with him, they could nick the position of Deputy Senate President.
The group’s plan “C” in case plans “A” and “B” fail is to support Senator Ahmed Lawan who they believed would not act to adversely affect the group’s interests.
It was learnt that the Saraki group resolved that for no reasons should they allow the duo of Senators Abdullahi Adamu (APC, Nasarawa in North Central zone) and Ali Ndume (APC Borno in North East zone) to step in the saddle as Senate President. Both of them are dubbed as chronic loyalists of Buhari.
Largely unsettled by the plot by the Saraki group, members of the APC caucuses in the National Assembly and in the party’s hierarchy in Abuja are now inclined to deliberately cede all presiding and principal officers’ positions in the Senate and House of Representatives to zones where they could accommodate and endorse predetermined party and president’s loyalists for election/selection.
A source hinted that the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) had already been activated to mobilise concerned state governors and leading party stalwarts to ensure that the leaderships of both chambers comprise identified loyalists.
The National Assembly (Senate and House of Representatives) will be inaugurated consequent upon the issuance of a signed proclamation by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Governors Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto state and his counterpart in Benue State, Samuel Ortom have been re-elected for second term in office under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), even as the governor of Plateau State, Simon Lalong was also re-elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The three governors were first voted into office for four years, from 2015 on the platform of the APC, but the Sokoto and Benue governors defected to PDP midway into their first tenure.
Governor Tambuwal survived the tough challenge of Ahmed Aliyu and his godfather Senator Aliyu Wamakko of the APC to win the re-election.
He polled 512,002 votes, while his APC challenger got 511660 votes.
After the results from 21 LGAs were tallied, Tambuwal led with 2057 votes, after polling 506,545 votes. Aliyu, his APC challenger had 504,488 votes.
However, the margin of APC’s victory in Kebbe was not enough to change the final picture.
APC polled 7177 votes while PDP got 5457 votes. Overall in the supplementary votes, APC got 25,515 votes while Governor Tambuwal of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) polled 22,444 votes.
The returning officer Professor Fatima Mukhtar, vice chancellor of Federal University of Dutse is set to announce the final result for all the 22 LGAs.
That was even as governor Ortom polled 434,473 votes to defeat his closest rival, Emmanuel Jime of the APC, who polled 345,155 votes.
The INEC Returning Officer for the election, Prof. Sabastine Maimako, declared the result on Sunday in Makurdi.
He said that Ortom “having polled the highest number of votes at this election is hereby declared winner.”
Maimako said the total registered votes were 2,471,894, total accredited voters were 858,947 while total valid votes stood at 830,954.
He said that total rejected votes were 15,268 while the margin of lead between the winner and his closest rival was 89,318 votes.
Meanwhile, governor Lalong of APC gathered 595,582 votes to win, with his closest rival, Jeremiah Useni, a retired Army General who was the candidate of the PDP, polling 546,813 votes.
Profesor Richard Kimbir, the Returning Officer, said that valid votes were 1,159,954, with the rejected votes standing at 16,188, while the total votes cast was 1,176,142,” he said.
The margin of victory between Lalong of APC and Useni of the PDP is 48,769 votes.
A feeling of de javu in the Nigerian political milieu seems to flow from the Marxian anecdote that “History repeats itself, the first as tragedy and then as farce.” Ahead of constitution of the leadership of the 9th National Assembly in June, this year, this presents a real bugaboo, particularly, to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
There is a historical context to the current anxiety within and outside the party. The constitution of the 8th National Assembly leadership in 2015 was a critical point of departure from the culture of suzerainty in which the governing party, with the majority seats in both Chambers, reins in the conflicting aspirations of its members in compliance with its zoning arrangements.
But, unable to contain internal dissonance, the leadership of the APC, in 2015, lost its core role in guiding members who were interested in the positions of presiding officers to exercise their rights within the ambit of party’s decisions. The ramification of that loss of control was the emergence of Bukola Saraki as senate president, contrary to the party’s choice.
The APC caucus in the Senate was irredeemably fractured and effort was dissipated along different directions as a plethora of aspirants pushed for the Senate Presidency. Saraki from the North Central zone was one of them. He was sufficiently prepared to step in the saddle, but lacked APC leadership’s endorsement.
Conversely, Ahmed Lawan from the North East zone, with the support of the leadership, looked good to clinch the position. George Akume from North Central dropped his aspiration to queue behind Lawan for the position of Deputy Senate President (DSP).
But Saraki had quickly deployed his political legerdemain in the circumstance to undercut, circumvent and upstage the applecart of the APC high-command to become Senate President.
Clearly piqued that Saraki was victorious against its internal arrangements, the APC took his victory as far less painful than the stratagem he deployed. The astute Saraki worked in cahoots with the PDP caucus to secure the critical simple majority votes – and in the spirit of the deal – trading away the position of DSP to the opposition party. Ike Ekweremadu emerged to retain the position that he had held for eight years in a PDP-controlled Senate.
The emergence of the Saraki-Ekweremadu leadership by subterfuge and sheer conspiratorial alliance has become history. It is a painful history that continues to remind the APC of how it historically mismanaged its majority position in the 8th National Assembly. Even in the House of Representatives, the APC was unable to enforce its choice of Femi Gbajabiamila from the South West zone as Speaker. The forces that upended APC’s arrangements in the Senate reportedly supported Hon. Yakubu Dogara from the North East zone to emerge as Speaker.
The convoluted trajectory by the APC in 2015, which produced a National Assembly leadership perpetually feuding with the Buhari Presidency, presents in much bolder relief the tragic nature and dimensions of the party’s recent inexplicable history of allowing an otherwise simple matter of selection of National Assembly leadership to go awry.
To be sure, the APC leadership, under the national chairmanship of Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, proved unimaginably inept in managing the process in a very utilitarian fashion. Through laissez-faire footing and perverse compromise, the party leadership failed to rein in its members in the National Assembly.
Reflectively, Buhari was complicit in the hypocrisy that damaged the APC. Whereas, Buhari was purported to have preferred the North East zone to produce the Senate President and, specifically, Senator Ahmed Lawan, he did not push the agenda through as an imperative presidential action. He was even reported to have scheduled a meeting with the APC senate caucus on the morning of the inauguration of the 8thNational Assembly to issue the final directive.
The President did not show up for the meeting, which was fixed for the same time the Senate was being inaugurated. Saraki had already been elected unopposed as Senate President before the majority members of the APC caucus got to the chamber. For not effectively pulling whatever strings behind the scene, perhaps, as not to be seen to be teleguiding the constitution of the National Assembly leadership, Buhari and his party paid the price for their imprudence for all of four years under the Saraki/Dogara leadership.
Currently, the 2015 scenario is building up ahead of the inauguration of the 9th National Assembly. Will the APC and President Buhari allow a repeat of history? It will be farcical if, under his nose and in a back-to-back manner, the President allows the 2015 ‘tragedy’ to be re-enacted. Desperation, muted APC leadership and cloaked presidential interest in the leadership of the federal legislature, which are some of the conditions precedent for the repeat of that tragic history, exist in the APC.
Why is there apparent desperation for the position of the Senate President and Speaker? In the North East, three ranking senators -Lawan, Ali Ndume and Danjuma Goje are jostling for the position. Lawan has already elevated his campaign some notches by announcing his interest during a crowded media interactive session in Abuja last weekend.
There are fears that Ndume, who was supplanted by Lawan as Senate Leader in the 8th Senate, sees this as an opportunity to take his pound of flesh. Ndume believes that Lawan colluded with Saraki to effect his removal as Senate Leader without prior notice or complaints. Ndume had stepped out to pray only for him to return to the Chamber to discover that he had been removed and replaced with Lawan. Saraki and his loyalists, according to feelers, are comfortable with Lawan; certainly not with Ndume.
Goje provides the third leg of the North East APC tripod targeting the senate presidency. There are reports that Goje enjoys the support of the Saraki group because he appears more acquiescent to the group in its bid to secure the position of Deputy Senate President, acting in concert with the PDP caucus.
Some APC quarters are leery of the party leadership zoning the senate presidency to the North East, which is capable of spawning crisis. The argument in some quarters is that APC should be politically sagacious to turn away from the North East and guide the senate presidency to the North Central zone. The zone has yet to throw up overtly desperate ranking senators. Ranking senators have not unsettled the zone on the altar of vaulting aspirations.
The consensus is that the APC should tread the path of least resistance and acrimony. The North West zone and the South West zone are not the path to tread, having produced the president and vice president respectively. The South-south zone has produced the position of national chairman of the APC. Whereas, the South East zone has two ranking members of the National Assembly, do the APC apparatchiks consider the zone qualified in terms of performance in the 2019 general election and commitment to the party platform to produce the Senate President?
In the House of Representatives, no fewer than 13 members-elect are jostling for the position of Speaker. This is the reason the APC leadership, acting in concert with Buhari, must act proactively to avert the Sword of Damocles that the National Assembly leadership contests typify. Comrade Adams Oshiomhole and Buhari must be on top of the process this time round.
Hear Marx again: “Men make their own history, but they do not make it as they please; they do not make it under self-selected circumstances, but under circumstances existing already, given and transmitted from the past.” Oshiomhole and Buhari must be appropriately instructed.
· Ojeifo, journalist and public affairs analyst, contributed this piece via ojwonderngr@yahoo.com
In developing countries, there is a consistent challenge of ensuring that more and more persons, especially those in the rural areas and the poor, have access to financial services. Therefore, the term ‘financial inclusion’ is a constant recourse when the plight of the rural poor is discussed. Their access to micro-credit schemes, electronic banking, community banks, and several other financial support services they need to spring them up from their state of poverty to a better standard of living.
Since June 3, 2014 when former President Goodluck Jonathan appointed Godwin Emefiele, a former Managing Director of Zenith Bank Plc, to the position of Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, there has been a considerable effort to facilitate the inclusion of the rural popular and the poor (also in urban centres) in the country’s financial schemes.
Implemented under the Financial Services System (FSS2020), which is meant to boost banking services in the county to a significant and inclusive level by Year 2020, the CBN has enhance financial literacy, microfinance scheme, non-interest banking, e-banking products, electronic payment system, the government’s cashless policy, consumer protection schemes, and the like. The most visible of the schemes under financial inclusion is the digital banking platform. Between 2014 and now, there has been a considerable increase in the number of Nigerians who are engaged in online banking. In spite of the increased population, electronic banking, the use of Automatic Teller Machine (ATM), Point of Sale (POS) facility, mobile agents and mobile banking has taken more and more persons from the banking hall, as they can now carry out their transactions from the comfort of their offices and sitting rooms.
The microfinance scheme of the CBN has also enhanced rural prosperity and by implication rural banking across the country. For instance, the Anchor Borrowers Scheme (ABS), one of the successful agricultural support policies of government has boosted the economies of several states in the North-West, North-East and South-East.
The objectives of ABS, according to the CBN is provide farm input in cash and kinds to farmers to boost production, stabilize input supplies to agro processors and ultimately to enhance the country’s negative balance of payment of food items. Before the introduction of the scheme, Nigeria was a net importer of rice, in spite of the fact that the country grows rice, and should be a rice exporting country. This scheme was has been a great success to the point that President Muhammadu Buhari used it as an evidence of the success of his administration in the last four years during the campaign for the recent general elections.
The CBN’s investment in the scheme in the form of micro credit which thousands of farmers have benefitted from, is explained by Isaac Okoroafor, the CBN’s spokesman thus, “Out of the N55bn that we have spent on the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme, about 80 per cent has gone into rice production; and if you work out that maths, you will see that the multiplier effect of that money has been so great. It also goes to underscore the effectiveness and efficiency that the CBN has put into this programme. We have about 250,000, who have also cultivated close to 300,000
hectares of farmland, and you can see the impact on the street.”
In the last five years, more than ever before, financial literacy has improved in Nigeria. Financial literacy is defined as “the possession of knowledge and skills by individuals to manage financial resources effectively to enhance their economic well-being.” In order to achieve this objective, the CBN has been involved in campaigns from one part of the country to another, meeting interest groups, stakeholders and women on how they could grow their money, using available tools. They have also visited secondary schools and many tertiary institutions to introduce them to banking options available, the need for them to save from the little income they earn and the various products available from which they could benefit.
Perhaps, worth mentioning is the revival in the insurance industry. Though it has great potentials of boosting the country’s economy, the insurance industry has suffered so much lull in the recent decades, particularly as a result of the economic stability. However, in the last three years, the industry has been encouraged to educate Nigerians on the importance of insuring their property, as a way of ensuring the security of their assets. Stakeholders in the sector have devised several approaches, including the use of legacy and social media, to encourage Nigerians to buy insurance policies. More than ever before, the financial literacy strategy of the CBN has been successful in the last three years.
Another successful financial inclusion policy in the last four years is the non-interest banking. From its baby steps during the era of former CBN Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the non-interest banking, otherwise known as Islamic Banking model has gained significance in the country. Operating under the Shariah financial principle that forbids usury or interest on financial loans, the scheme allows banks to participate in the business transaction for which loans are issued by the non-interest bank, and the profit generated from such transactions are shared between the bank and the business owner.
An evidence of its success is the movement of Jaiz Bank Plc from the fringe to the mainstream in the banking sector of Nigeria. Many Nigerians patronize the non-banking scheme, as other traditional banks have introduced non-interest banking products. This strategy has boosted the interest of many Muslims, who hitherto abhorred the interest-charging banking products, into the country’s financial scheme, instead of keeping their money at home in order to avoid the haram of conventional banking.
The impact of the non-interest banking policy under the financial inclusion strategy of the CBN s is evident in the Sukuk bond that the Federal Government has subscribed to in recent years. For instance, in 2018, the Federal Government earmarked N100 bn Sukuk bond for the execution of 28 major projects across the country. Since 2017 when the Federal Government began to source funds under Sukuk bond, there has been a growing interest among Nigerians on this non-interest financial scheme. The bond was over-subscribed by 5.7 per cent in the first instance in 2017. The interest has continued to grow in recent times.
Though Nigeria has arrived in the Promised Land, the implementation of the country’s Financial Services Strategy (FSS2020) under CBN governor Emefiele has been impressive. The last five years had been very turbulent, considering the economic crises that attended to drop in oil prices, disruption of oil production in the Niger Delta, shortage of foreign exchange and the attendant crisis, the economy slumping into depression, disruption of economic activities in Boko Haram infested communities in the North-East, North-West, and the massive destruction and disruption of farming activities by militant Fulani herdsmen who laid waste many farmland and killed thousands of farmers in many agrarian communities. To some extent, the economy has begun to stabilize. It is therefore, imperative to sustain the winning team and formula at the CBN.
Emefiele will complete his tenure as CBN governor in June this year. How time flies. He has achieved a lot in terms of financial inclusion in spite of the chaotic economic atmosphere. It will, therefore, be in the interest of deepening the financial and monetary policy achievements for President Muhammadu Buhari to grant him tenure to enable him consolidate of many of the achievements by the CBN in the last five years.
The Governor of Kaduna State, Nasiru Ahmed el-Rufai has taunted those who claimed that he was dead in an auto accident, saying that he never had accident and therefore, was not dead.
Speaking at a reception organized at Sir Kashim Ibrahim Government House last night (Friday) to welcome him, the governor dismissed his rumoured accident, saying:“I was never involved in any accident and no driver died. I was also not in coma.
“Let me start by thanking you all for coming to welcome me. One of the objectives is, as explained by my wife, I am still alive, or I have resurrected, I don’t know which one.
“My wife went on to say that, as my wife for 34 years, although, we have known each other for 43 years, she can confirm that this is really me, it is not a clone. Although, that will not stop the rumour in the social media, but that is that.
“So, I want to thank you all for coming here. But, I want to confirm that, no accident took place, no one was in coma, no driver died. I have already put that out in social media, but I want to repeat it for the sake of clarity.
“The second reason I am grateful for your presence is to thank people of Kaduna State for their votes. For their votes in support of President Muhammadu Buhari and coming out in even larger numbers to vote for me and members of the State House of Assembly.
“I am happy to say that, we already have two third majority in the state house of assembly. And I have already appealed to members of the assembly to keep the leadership that has served the state so diligently in the last for years to continue. This is my appeal.
“Kaduna State has consistently voted for President Muhammadu Buhari since he first contested in 2003. He has never lost Kaduna State, so it is not a shock that he won this time. Anyone that says he has defeated President Buhari in Kaduna is either dreaming or needs psychiatric assistance.”
The Governor appealed to the people of the state once again, to live peacefully among themselves, saying that, his government saddened by the security challenges in Birnin Gwari, Kajuru, parts of Chikun and lately Sanga local government area, has appealed to the President for security reinforcement in the affected areas.
He also appealed to all the people of Kaduna state to join hands with his government to move the state forward, promising that, the government will be fair to all and work for all, irrespective of their political and other affiliations.
Governor el-Rufai promised to continue with his government’s reforms, especially in education and correct its mistakes where it had gone wrong.
All top government functionaries, including the Deputy Governor-elect, Dr. Hadiza Balarabe, Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Aminu Abdullahi Shagali, Secretary to the State Government, Balarabe Abbas Lawal and wife of the Governor, Architect Hadiza el-Rufai were in attendance at the reception.
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Vice President Yemi Osinbajo took time off to greet the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu while the Minister of Communication, Dr. Adebayo Shittu and Minister of Information & Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed look on.
Losers in the Saturday, March 23 supplementary governorship elections are protesting the results, threatening to challenge the results at the election tribunals.
A feeling of de javu in the Nigerian political milieu seems to flow from the Marxian anecdote that “History repeats itself, the first as tragedy and then as farce.” Ahead of constitution of the leadership of the 9th National Assembly in June, this year, this presents a real bugaboo, particularly, to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Emefiele And Financial Inclusion In Nigeria, By Andrew Idakwo
In developing countries, there is a consistent challenge of ensuring that more and more persons, especially those in the rural areas and the poor, have access to financial services. Therefore, the term ‘financial inclusion’ is a constant recourse when the plight of the rural poor is discussed. Their access to micro-credit schemes, electronic banking, community banks, and several other financial support services they need to spring them up from their state of poverty to a better standard of living.
Since June 3, 2014 when former President Goodluck Jonathan appointed Godwin Emefiele, a former Managing Director of Zenith Bank Plc, to the position of Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, there has been a considerable effort to facilitate the inclusion of the rural popular and the poor (also in urban centres) in the country’s financial schemes.
Implemented under the Financial Services System (FSS2020), which is meant to boost banking services in the county to a significant and inclusive level by Year 2020, the CBN has enhance financial literacy, microfinance scheme, non-interest banking, e-banking products, electronic payment system, the government’s cashless policy, consumer protection schemes, and the like. The most visible of the schemes under financial inclusion is the digital banking platform. Between 2014 and now, there has been a considerable increase in the number of Nigerians who are engaged in online banking. In spite of the increased population, electronic banking, the use of Automatic Teller Machine (ATM), Point of Sale (POS) facility, mobile agents and mobile banking has taken more and more persons from the banking hall, as they can now carry out their transactions from the comfort of their offices and sitting rooms.
The microfinance scheme of the CBN has also enhanced rural prosperity and by implication rural banking across the country. For instance, the Anchor Borrowers Scheme (ABS), one of the successful agricultural support policies of government has boosted the economies of several states in the North-West, North-East and South-East.
The objectives of ABS, according to the CBN is provide farm input in cash and kinds to farmers to boost production, stabilize input supplies to agro processors and ultimately to enhance the country’s negative balance of payment of food items. Before the introduction of the scheme, Nigeria was a net importer of rice, in spite of the fact that the country grows rice, and should be a rice exporting country. This scheme was has been a great success to the point that President Muhammadu Buhari used it as an evidence of the success of his administration in the last four years during the campaign for the recent general elections.
The CBN’s investment in the scheme in the form of micro credit which thousands of farmers have benefitted from, is explained by Isaac Okoroafor, the CBN’s spokesman thus, “Out of the N55bn that we have spent on the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme, about 80 per cent has gone into rice production; and if you work out that maths, you will see that the multiplier effect of that money has been so great. It also goes to underscore the effectiveness and efficiency that the CBN has put into this programme. We have about 250,000, who have also cultivated close to 300,000
hectares of farmland, and you can see the impact on the street.”
In the last five years, more than ever before, financial literacy has improved in Nigeria. Financial literacy is defined as “the possession of knowledge and skills by individuals to manage financial resources effectively to enhance their economic well-being.” In order to achieve this objective, the CBN has been involved in campaigns from one part of the country to another, meeting interest groups, stakeholders and women on how they could grow their money, using available tools. They have also visited secondary schools and many tertiary institutions to introduce them to banking options available, the need for them to save from the little income they earn and the various products available from which they could benefit.
Perhaps, worth mentioning is the revival in the insurance industry. Though it has great potentials of boosting the country’s economy, the insurance industry has suffered so much lull in the recent decades, particularly as a result of the economic stability. However, in the last three years, the industry has been encouraged to educate Nigerians on the importance of insuring their property, as a way of ensuring the security of their assets. Stakeholders in the sector have devised several approaches, including the use of legacy and social media, to encourage Nigerians to buy insurance policies. More than ever before, the financial literacy strategy of the CBN has been successful in the last three years.
Another successful financial inclusion policy in the last four years is the non-interest banking. From its baby steps during the era of former CBN Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the non-interest banking, otherwise known as Islamic Banking model has gained significance in the country. Operating under the Shariah financial principle that forbids usury or interest on financial loans, the scheme allows banks to participate in the business transaction for which loans are issued by the non-interest bank, and the profit generated from such transactions are shared between the bank and the business owner.
An evidence of its success is the movement of Jaiz Bank Plc from the fringe to the mainstream in the banking sector of Nigeria. Many Nigerians patronize the non-banking scheme, as other traditional banks have introduced non-interest banking products. This strategy has boosted the interest of many Muslims, who hitherto abhorred the interest-charging banking products, into the country’s financial scheme, instead of keeping their money at home in order to avoid the haram of conventional banking.
The impact of the non-interest banking policy under the financial inclusion strategy of the CBN s is evident in the Sukuk bond that the Federal Government has subscribed to in recent years. For instance, in 2018, the Federal Government earmarked N100 bn Sukuk bond for the execution of 28 major projects across the country. Since 2017 when the Federal Government began to source funds under Sukuk bond, there has been a growing interest among Nigerians on this non-interest financial scheme. The bond was over-subscribed by 5.7 per cent in the first instance in 2017. The interest has continued to grow in recent times.
Though Nigeria has arrived in the Promised Land, the implementation of the country’s Financial Services Strategy (FSS2020) under CBN governor Emefiele has been impressive. The last five years had been very turbulent, considering the economic crises that attended to drop in oil prices, disruption of oil production in the Niger Delta, shortage of foreign exchange and the attendant crisis, the economy slumping into depression, disruption of economic activities in Boko Haram infested communities in the North-East, North-West, and the massive destruction and disruption of farming activities by militant Fulani herdsmen who laid waste many farmland and killed thousands of farmers in many agrarian communities. To some extent, the economy has begun to stabilize. It is therefore, imperative to sustain the winning team and formula at the CBN.
Emefiele will complete his tenure as CBN governor in June this year. How time flies. He has achieved a lot in terms of financial inclusion in spite of the chaotic economic atmosphere. It will, therefore, be in the interest of deepening the financial and monetary policy achievements for President Muhammadu Buhari to grant him tenure to enable him consolidate of many of the achievements by the CBN in the last five years.
Idakwo contributed this piece from Kano.